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US Chamber China Trade & Investment News
March 13, 2008
Trade
March 13: ITC report shows trends in US-China trade between 1995-2004.
China Trade Extra
March 13: ITC launches AD investigation of threaded rod from China.
China Trade Extra
Political and International News
March 13: Human rights activists decried the US State Department's decision to
drop China from its list of the world's worst human rights violators, saying that
China's crackdown on dissent is getting worse as it prepares to host the Olympic
Games in August. Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, while not commenting
directly on the State Department report, told reporters that foreign leaders,
including President Bush, have expressed support for the Beijing Olympics by
committing to attend the opening ceremony.
Washington Post; BBC News; Washington Post; Washington Post; The New
York Times; The New York Times; Washington Times
March 13: China is "strangling" emerging island democracies in the Pacific in
pursuit of narrow goals such as friendly votes at the United Nations, CIA Director
Michael V. Hayden said in an interview in which he criticized Beijing's failure to act
as a responsible global power. Mr. Hayden also criticized China's pursuit of
Sudanese oil supplies, even at the cost of backing a government that the United
States accuses of participating in genocidal activities in the Darfur region of
Sudan.
Washington Times
March 13: China issued the Human Rights Record of the United States in 2007 in
response to the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2007 issued by
the US Department of State. Released by the Information Office of China''s State
Council, the Chinese report listed a multitude of cases to show the human rights
situation in the United States and its violation of human rights in other countries.
The report says the United States reigns over other countries and make arrogant
and malicious attacks on their human rights issues, but mentions nothing about its
own human rights problems.
People's Daily Online; People's Daily Online
March 12: China warned foreign groups not to use the Summer Olympics to
pressure Beijing, presenting the nation as a "responsible" but poor power eager to
end rows over trade, pollution and human rights. China has been buffeted ahead
of the Games by worries over dirty air and international protests over human
rights, Tibet, Sudan's Darfur and other controversies that often irk Chinese
diplomats.
Washington Post
National People's Congress
March 13: The 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference, the top political advisory body, elected its leadership at a
plenary meeting. Jia Qinglin was reelected chairman of CPPCC National
Committee. Qian Yunlu, a vice-chairman, also acts as secretary-general of the
11th CPPCC National Committee. The meeting also elected 298 members of the
Standing Committee of the 11th CPPCC National Committee.
People's Daily Online
March 13: Chinese President Hu Jintao has appointed new ambassadors to
France and European Union, in accordance with resolutions adopted by the
Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature.
Kong Quan has been appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotential of
the People's Republic of China to the Republic of France and received the dual
position of ambassador to the Principality of Monaco, replacing his predecessor
Zhao Jinjun.
People's Daily Online
March 13: China's Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang said that the
medium- and long-term plan for scientific and technological development has been
"progressing smoothly" since 2006. A number of major projects, such as large
planes, nuclear power and water pollution treatment and control, major new
medicines and next-generation mobile communication, have been launched and
the others are expected to start later this year, Wan said on the sidelines of the
annual sessions of the national legislature and the top political advisory body.
National People's Congress
March 13: The change in the Chinese leadership for a new term of five years was
formally initiated in China's National People's Congress, with a candidate name list
tabled with the Presidium of the First Session of the 11th NPC. Entrusted by the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Xi Jinping, member of
the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee,
made explanations to the Presidium on the candidates for the State organs' top
positions, including president, top lawmaker and premier.
National People's Congress
March 12: China would reorganize the central government by creating five socalled super ministries, including one responsible for improving environmental
protection. But the plan stopped short of creating a single agency to oversee the
contentious issue of energy policy. The plan, submitted during the annual session
of the National People’s Congress, the legislature run by the Communist Party, is
intended to streamline an overlapping array of government agencies, commissions
and ministries around core issues.
The New York Times
March 12: The government is giving China's Ministry of Information Industry a
new name and an expanded mandate to help stimulate growth in the IT and
telecom sectors. The Ministry of Information Industry is to be given an expanded
industry development role in a revamp of China's central bureaucracy unveiled.
Under the plan, the MII will take over the defense group Costindo as well as some
telecom and IT functions of the planning body, the NDRC.
Business Week
Economy
March 13: A paper presented at the September 2007 International Conference on
the CCP's 17th Congress by Daniel Xu and Ning Ding and shows the number of
people, in millions, entering the job market in China every year from 2006 to 2020.
from 2006 to 2010 the number of young people joining the job market has grown
or is projected to grow by 6.6 percent a year on average. From 2010 to 2020 the
number of new job seekers is expected to decline on average by 5.8 percent a
year. China currently needs extremely high growth rates. After 2010 the number of
young people joining the job market will begin to drop quickly, while the number of
retirees will continue growing rapidly.
Sampa
March 13: China's retail sales strengthened in the first two months of 2008 from a
year earlier, as consumers spent more on meat and cooking oil due to higher
prices in recent months. At the same time, actual foreign direct investment surged,
likely reflecting the allure of China's economy, which is growing rapidly despite
signs of a global slowdown and persistent expectations that the Yuan will continue
to appreciate quickly. In the first two months of this year, China's retail sales grew
20.2 percent from the year-earlier period to 1.743 trillion Yuan, or about $245
billion, the National Bureau of Statistics said. The growth matched the December
increase but was much higher than the 6.8 percent rise for 2007.
The Wall Street Journal
March 13: Domestic retail sales leaped 20.2 percent to $245.5 billion in the first
two months of 2008, boosted by Chinese New Years sales and rising food prices,
the National Bureau of Statistics said. The figure was 5.5 percentage points higher
than the same period last year. Food prices have risen steeply for more than a
year, fueling inflation fears and prompting the government to prioritize the fight
against inflation as its top concern. Food costs surged 23.3 percent in February,
while non-food prices edged up only 1.6 percent from a year earlier the NBS
report stated. The consumer price index hit a nearly 12-year high of 8.7 percent in
February, making it more difficulty for China to keep the full-year rate to the
government target of 4.8 percent.
China Briefing
March 12: China's high January and February readings for inflation have
increased the pressure on the government to take action to counter price rises,
Commerce Minister Chen Deming said. Annual consumer inflation jumped to 8.7
percent in February after hitting 7.1 percent in January, the worst in more than 11
years. Chen told reporters that consumer inflation would stabilize at a high level
over the next few months and then ease in the second half, as the impact of
recent snowstorms subsided and because of a higher base of comparison from
the second half of 2007.
Washington Post
Healthcare
March 13: A traditional Chinese herbal medicine consisting of five herbs may
ease eczema symptoms, a study suggests. Researchers found the treatment
reduced the need for conventional medicines, and improved the quality of life for
young patients with atopic eczema. The capsules contained extracts of five raw
herbs based on a widely used ancestral Chinese concoction.
BBC News
March 13: China will offer free breast cancer exams for 530,000 women from 53
counties and districts in 30 provinces and municipalities, officials said. The project
was launched by the Ministry of Public Health here, with a special fund of 19.38
million Yuan (about $2.7 million). "The check-up program is intended to find breast
cancer patients at an early stage and provide timely treatment," said Kong Lingzhi,
deputy director of the Disease Control and Prevention Bureau of the ministry.
Xinhua
Foreign Investments
March 12: Foreign investment in China rose 38.3 percent in February from a year
ago to $6.9 billion, the Commerce Ministry reported. Foreign companies are
looking to China to help drive sales as growth in the United States and elsewhere
slows, and are stepping up spending on factories and service industries meant to
serve increasingly prosperous Chinese consumers. February's growth was far
below the rate in January, when foreign investment more than doubled to $11.2
billion. But the government said earlier that the January rise was unusual and
probably was prompted by companies rushing to avoid exchange-rate losses as
China's currency, the Yuan, rose in value.
Washington Post
Energy & Environment
March 13: The creation of a fully fledged environment ministry will give its
representatives the power to influence cabinet-level decisions on green issues, a
senior environment official said. Wang Yuqing, former deputy head of the State
Environmental Protection Administration, said: "The elevation will enable the
agency to join every important meeting of the State Council, and ensure
environmental protection efforts are better integrated into the decision-making
process."
People's Daily Online
March 13: China's first hydropower museum, the Jilin Fengman hydropower
museum, is complete and recently opened to the public. The Fengman Power
Plant, known as the "Cradle of Chinese Hydropower," was built in 1937 and has
forstered more than 2,000 professionals for the country. Exhibitions on the history
of the power plant, the museum's grandiose nature, professional style, and
various, vivid exhibitory techniques has been attracting increasingly more visitors.
People's Daily Online
Insurance & Finance
March 13: China says sovereign wealth fund rules must be developed by all
players.
China Trade Extra
March 13: China's foreign minister indicated that Beijing is willing to work on an
international code of conduct for sovereign-wealth funds, showing a more flexible
stance than was projected last week by a senior executive at China's sovereignwealth fund. Sovereign-wealth funds, most of which hail from emerging economies
in Asia and the Middle East, have come under increased scrutiny amid concerns
they could use their increasing financial clout to wield political influence in
countries in which they invest and corner markets for key resources and
commodities.
The Wall Street Journal
March 13: Chinese bureaucrats control the country's biggest companies, giving
these officials the power to oversee which industries get backing to undertake
massive initial public offerings, get foreign investment and carry out restructurings.
In a country notorious for poor information flow, bankers need to stay on top of
what these bureaucrats are thinking to nail the big deals
The Wall Street Journal
March 13: Ping An Insurance Corp, China's second largest insurer by premium, is
planning to pay approximately EUR 2 billion to increase its stake in Fortis NV,
Belgium's largest financial service company, market sources reported. According
to sources, Fortis is in exclusive negotiations with an unnamed party on the deal to
improve its finance. Analysts expect that Fortis's solvency will be largely enhanced
through the deal.
China Knowledge
March 13: Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd, one of the leading property
developers in China, plans to raise as much as $2.1 billion in a Hong Kong IPO.
The firm is offering 2.96 billion shares at the indicative range of HK$3.50 to
HK$5.60 per share. Currently, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse
are managing the deal. The Guangzhou-based residential developer plans to use
20 percent of its IPO proceeds for land acquisition, to ensure growth is sustained
for the following five years.
China Knowledge
March 13: China International Marine Containers Co, the world's largest maker of
freight containers said one of its wholly-owned subsidiaries has inked an
agreement to buy 29.9 percent stakes in Yantai Raffles Shipyard Ltd for $566
million. The stake will be bought through its unit, Sharp Vision Holdings Ltd., from
two sellers, namely Leung Kee Holdings Ltd and Bright Touch Investment Ltd, a
subsidiary of CIMCC, the company said in a statement filed to Shenzhen Stock
Exchange.
China Knowledge
March 12: Solargiga Energy Holdings plans to raise $127 million in a strippeddown version of its Hong Kong initial public offering, which was delayed in
January. Solargiga Energy Holdings, which makes monocrystalline wafers and
ingots for solar cells, has re-launched a scaled-down version of its Hong Kong
initial public offering that was postponed in January. The offering comes as a bit of
a surprise since the solar power sector is one of the worst hit this year, but the fact
that the company has decided to go ahead suggests it is confident it will have
enough buyers at the adjusted terms.
Business Week
Science & Technology
March 13: China Telecom, the largest fixed telecom service operator in the
country, is accelerating Wi-Fi deployment and plan to launch a large-scale
wireless network rollout in Southern China's 21 provinces, said a senior executive
at Guangzhou Telecom. The deployment of wireless network will enhance the
customer loyalty for China Telecom, which will boost the competitiveness of its
mobile service. Earlier reports said China Telecom will take over the CDMA
network of China Unicom in China's telecom industry reshuffle. It is likely to
transfer its PHS users into CDMA users smoothly after the restructuring, an
industry insider predicted.
China Knowledge
March 12: "China is developing a high-thrust rocket, Long March 5, which is
expected to deliver moon vehicles, large satellites and space stations after 2014,"
said the vice president and secretary of the Party committee of the China Institute
of Carrier Rocket Technology, senior engineer Liang Xiaohong.
People's Daily Online
Internet
March 13: China has surpassed the United States to become the world's largest
Internet market by number of users, a research firm said. The estimate by Beijingbased BDA was based on data from China Internet Network Information Center
which indicated that the country's Internet users totaled 210 million at end-2007.
"Based on these sources and the assumption that these markets have continued
to grow in 2008 to date at the same rates that they grew in 2007, we can conclude
that China has by now comfortably surpassed the United States as the world's
largest Internet population," analyst Bin Liu said in a statement.
Washington Post
Cross - Straits
March 13: Taiwan's Cabinet approved a proposal to let the island's banks acquire
as much as a 20 percent stake in Chinese lenders through overseas units. The
approval, which will help Taiwan banks expand to the fast-growing Chinese
market and serve the hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese doing business and
working in China, is the latest relaxation of rules covering China-bound investment
by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party ahead of the March 22 presidential
election.
The Wall Street Journal
General News
March 13: China, an emerging superpower with a booming economy to match its
military might, appears to need a lesson in good, old-fashioned PR as it struggles
with its international image prior to hosting the Olympic Games in August. This
week, China unofficially blacklisted Miss Wei for her role in the movie as a student
activist who displayed unpatriotic behavior during the Japanese occupation,
according to numerous press reports. Mr. Lee is not the first big-name Hollywood
director whom Beijing has recently alienated.
Washington Times
March 12: The armies of migrant workers building Beijing's skyscrapers and
Olympic venues are being bilked of wages and placed in dangerous conditions,
Human Rights Watch said in a report. With Beijing having spent $40 billion on an
urban makeover to impress the world during the Olympics, the government is keen
to avoid embarrassment. The city is stepping up checks of migrants' temporary
residence permits to drive out those who overstay their welcome.
Business Week
March 12: Beijing is gearing up preparations for the Summer Olympics in
appointing a state-level agency to ensure security and roping off more than 280
km of road sexclusively for the Games. China has also drafted plans for
emergencies during the event, enhanced exchanges and coordination with foreign
security organizations, and stepped up training for security staff as well other
people involved in the Games, said Liu, also executive vice president of the
Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
People's Daily Online
March 12: Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi defended the country's death
penalty, saying the government is very "prudent" in this regard. Yang made the
remarks at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual session of China's
parliament. "China's position on death penalty is very prudent, serious and
responsible," he said, noting that the Supreme People's Court took back the power
of reviewing death penalty on Jan. 1 last year.
People's Daily Online
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